Ok, so let me say that this is one of my favorite movies (it may well be the Duke's best), so I've seen it several times, so that's how come I remember so much. Here's what I think:
As others have mentioned, there's the scene where James Stewart describes death by the cancer, and it is graphic. "If you're lucky, you'll go unconscious, and until then, you'll scream." He then says, "I would not die a death like I just described, not if I had your courage." Look at Books' face when he says that.
There's the scene where the Duke talks about reading about Queen Victoria dying and he talks about how she died with style and class and dignity. He's obviously been thinking about it. The shootout is Books' way of going out in style and with his dignity. That's why he gets his clothes dry-cleaned, he does it on his birthday, and so on.
Now as to why he chose the men he did:
1. Cobb- Remember Books' credo? "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on." Cobb insulted Books.
2. Polford- He's obviously a great gunman. It would be very classy for Books to die facing a worthy opponent.
3. Sweeney- Books knows Sweeney hates him with a passion, so Sweeney will stop at nothing to kill him. It's also a way of providing closure to his life, finishing unfinished business.
Hopefully all that makes sense.
The horror... the horror...
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hankpac
14 years ago
During the fight, I had the impression that he was going up against all three of them in order to ensure his passing. None of them could even come close to matching him in a face to face fight, even in his last days.
He seemed that they weren't do ing a better job. He was taking them out one at a time, rather rapidly.
Although much of the acting was stilted, and affected, I was definitely pulled in both directions. I wanted to see him best his adversaries, yet knew he HAD to die if he was to die nobly. BTW, the chosen opponents were all dirt bags that no one was going to miss anyway, for the reasons stated above in other posts. And finally no one seems to have remembered that Sweeny's hate stems from Books' killing of Sweeny's little brother, sometime in the past.
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Mccadoo
13 years ago
It was obvious that he didn't intend to come back from the confrotation at the saloon. He didn't have a date of death put on his tombstone but he did leave all his money for Bond, he sold his horse, he had his suit cleaned, and he arranged to face the three people in town that he knew would fight him. He assumed that with three against one odds he was sure to lose.
He didn't want to die of cancer in the way the doctor described, he wanted to go out the way he had lived, and quickly, but not by taking his own life. If you notice, after the gunfight was over but before the bartender shot him in the back he stood there and looked at all three dead men with a look of disgust on his face because they were all dead and he was still alive.
This is a great movie, and I can't think of a better one for being Wayne's last film, even if it never was meant to be.
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tbonesays
12 years ago
I think Books knew that there was going to be trouble at that bar. Sheriff Thibido had told him about the Pharaoh dealer's shooting prowess. And Books could see that his old enemy was in the bar. I think Wayne was walking into last fight because he knew it was his time (out of medicine and all).
And yeah, "Pharaoh" Dealer, that was how AMC's closed captioner just typed it.
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jdus-1
11 years ago
Nail on the head. He wouldnt shoot himself or down a bottle of that Laudanum. A variation of suicide by cop. In this case, suicide by town misfits.
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Randy-144
11 years ago
In response to surfercharlie, there was also the scene where Books introduces himself to the widow Rogers. In a bit of irony he tells her his name is William Hickok. Wild Bill Hickok had been shot in the back of the head while seated playing poker. Books didn't want to go out the way Hickok did by having someone shoot him when he let his guard down. And he knew there was more than one man in town who wanted to be able to brag that he was the one who killed the famous shootist J.B. Books. This fear was made evident when, if Books hadn't followed up on his suspicions, he would have died when the two gunmen tried to shoot him in his darkened bedroom.
At one point he commented to Mrs. Rogers that he never killed a man who didn't need killing. That's why he sent for those three men to meet him at the Metropole.
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